Arabic language in the United States
The Arabic language is a minority language in the United States. In the 2020 American Community Survey, 1.39 million people reported speaking the language at home. This makes Arabic the sixth most spoken language in the United States as of 2020. Arabic-speaking people in the United States include people of many backgrounds, such as Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Iraqi, Palestinian, Algerian, and so on.
As a second language, Arabic saw declining enrollment among colleges and universities between 2016 and 2021. Since the September 11 attacks, Arabic has faced significant discrimination and stereotyping within the United States.
History
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade brought significant numbers of Arabic speakers to America. Many African Muslim slaves were fluent in Arabic and thus contributed to the language's presence in the United States.17th - 19th centuries
Arabic language education in the United States dates back to the 17th century. Initially, the study of Arabic was introduced to complement the study of Hebrew and the Old Testament. Harvard was the first American college to offer Semitic languages, including Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Syriac in 1640. Later on, Arabic was available sometime between 1654 and 1672 during the presidency of Charles Chauncy. Eventually Arabic began to be taught in other institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania in 1788, Dartmouth and Andover in 1807, and the Theological Seminary in Princeton sometime before the 1880s.In the 19th century, more American universities began developing departments and courses for the learning of Arabic. In 1841, Edward E. Salisbury was appointed as a professor of Arabic and Sanskrit by Yale, the first person in the Americas to be given such a position. In 1880, Harvard's Department of Semitic Languages was founded, formalizing the university's teaching of Arabic under Professor Crawford H. Toy. In 1883, Paul Haupt, an Assyriologist, established a comprehensive Semitic philology program at Johns Hopkins University, which later influenced the development of similar programs across the nation. By the end of the 19th century, there were sixteen major departments of Semitics in the United States, with Arabic being offered in various colleges and seminaries.
20th century
During the first wave of Arab immigration, Christianity was the dominant faith and most were tradesmen. However, since the late 1960s an increasing proportion of Arab immigrants are Muslim. English was used as the language of worship in Arab churches due to the lack of priests who speak Arabic or Syriac. Most of these Arab tradesmen were willing to learn English as well. In the 20th century, Arabs taught and spoke to their children English in order to create an American identity, leaving no time and use for Arabic. Arabic only started to be picked up again after the 1960s when it was used in church and media.United States government
While the Department of Defense did provide some foreign language courses shortly before American involvement in Second World War, systematic education of foreign languages by the United States government, such as Arabic, did not occur until well into the Cold War, with the creation of the Defense Foreign Language Program. The Army Language School began teaching Arabic sometime before 1950. Arabic was the second-most taught language at DLI from 1963 to 2018, with a total enrollment over the period of 27,049.Furthermore, various universities and institutions received support to develop instructional materials and programs for different Arabic dialects under the support of the national standard.
Post-9/11
Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Arabs and Muslims were targeted due to their identity, and labeled as enemies. The stereotypes surrounding Arab and Muslim Americans have led to stigma surrounding Arabic itself. Arab-Americans have reported being threatened with violence or being targeted by police simply for speaking Arabic.This stigma has also impacted Arabic education. Many Arabic teachers believe that Arabic is not a language to be used on streets because of possible implications and potential threat perceived by non-Arabs. This impacts their teaching strategies, and affects the motivation for students to learn Arabic knowing that they have to be careful when speaking it in public.
Historical demographics
| Year | Speakers | Note |
| 1980 | 215,000 | |
| 1990 | 355,000 | |
| 2000 | 614,582 | |
| 2010 | 864,961 | |
| 2014 | 1,117,304 | |
| 2019 | 1,260,437 | |
| 2021 | 1,450,000 |
| State | Estimated Arabic speakers |
| Alabama | 5,380 |
| Alaska | 1,345 |
| Arizona | 26,164 |
| Arkansas | 1,336 |
| California | 208,243 |
| Colorado | 15,655 |
| Connecticut | 12,399 |
| Delaware | 4,765 |
| Florida | 83,739 |
| Georgia | 23,017 |
| Hawaii | 348 |
| Idaho | 1,816 |
| Illinois | 74,919 |
| Indiana | 14,314 |
| Iowa | 6,761 |
| Kansas | 4,747 |
| Kentucky | 11,222 |
| Louisiana | 14,421 |
| Maine | 3,502 |
| Maryland | 26,370 |
| Massachusetts | 43,386 |
| Michigan | 171,731 |
| Minnesota | 13,629 |
| Mississippi | 4,600 |
| Missouri | 9,552 |
| Montana | 329 |
| Nebraska | 6,730 |
| Nevada | 4,842 |
| New Hampshire | 4,397 |
| New Jersey | 80,048 |
| New Mexico | 5,272 |
| New York | 130,314 |
| North Carolina | 30,232 |
| North Dakota | 604 |
| Ohio | 50,780 |
| Oklahoma | 7,448 |
| Oregon | 8,463 |
| Pennsylvania | 49,548 |
| Rhode Island | 1,064 |
| South Carolina | 4,886 |
| South Dakota | 455 |
| Tennessee | 30,510 |
| Texas | 116,644 |
| Utah | 6,288 |
| Vermont | 329 |
| Virginia | 64,746 |
| Washington | 25,298 |
| West Virginia | 1,495 |
| Wisconsin | 6,977 |
| Wyoming | 367 |
Arabic's increasing significance in the United States is showcased by the continuing growth of its speaker base. Arabic has more than 1.35 million speakers in the United States, making it the sixth most common language spoken in the country and catering to almost 0.5% of the U.S. population. This marks a substantial increase from the 860,000 speakers recorded in 2010 by the United States Census Bureau.
Migration from the Arab-speaking population to the United States dates back to the 18th century in the Atlantic slave trade. African Muslim slaves used Arabic as their means of communication. More sustained immigration started in the late 19th century onward, following trends such as education and have continued to the present. The 2017 American Census Bureau recorded 2 million Arab Americans, while the Arab American Institute suggested numbers may reach 3.7 million.
Current status
The 2000 U.S. census reported 1.2 million Arab Americans, with significant population concentrations in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. The largest proportion of Arab Americans traced their heritage to Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. Regarding socio-economic characteristics, Arab Americans have largely maintained an economic advantage compared to the overall U.S. population. They are engaged in management-level and professional work at a larger proportion compared to the general population.The study of Arabic language maintenance found two contrasting results. One study found that English continues to be the dominant language spoken by Arab Americans. However, another research found varying degrees of multilingual proficiency in the Detroit area and deduced that Arabic continues to play a vital role for all in the community. Their standard or classical Arabic language functions as a symbol of unification among all language speakers, as it is an expression of identity. Moreover, Arab Americans share more affinity to the Arabic language and culture as it could be either tied to their ethnic identity or their common religion.